


Journey in a Strange Land

by LoveLiveFight



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Adventure, Diary/Journal, Exploration, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:48:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24136885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoveLiveFight/pseuds/LoveLiveFight
Summary: When a teenage girl wakes up in a strange, blocky world, what will it take for her to survive? How will she find her way home? All she knows is she has a pencil and a notebook, and she has a lot to learn about how things work around here. As she explores, makes a new friend, and tries to get home, she documents her tale for all to experience.This work was originally post to my blog, ShortandScorch.com. I am the original creator of the work and therefore have permission to post it here as well.





	1. Day 1

I have awoken in a strange place, with nothing on me but my clothing, a backpack, a blank book, and a pencil. Everything here looks... Odd. The trees are not round, but rectangular. The leaves form blocks as well. Even the dirt and rocks appear to be of a more blocky nature than at home.  


I found a small pillar of dirt with another piece beside it. The single piece comes to my waist. Using it as a guide for the height of a "block" of dirt, as I will call it for now, it appears the pillar is four blocks tall. I am, in this new measurement, two blocks tall. I can easily jump a block high, but not much more than that. I think I will explore a bit, and try to find some shelter. While it appears to be early morning, I don't want to waste my day playing with blocks of dirt.

\---------

I have determined I need tools and resources. I cannot find any pre-built shelter, and to make matters worse, I saw a giant spider come walking out of a nearby cave. Not a place I want to spend my night. I will try to get some wood off of one of the surrounding trees, though without an axe or knife, I imagine that will be difficult.

\---------

Well, I feel rather foolish. I spent about an hour, or at least what feels like it, trying to move a block of wood from the tree or anything like that. Then when I got fed up, I hit the tree. Amazingly, it started to crack. Continuing to hit the tree, the block of wood I was hitting shrank into a very small cube of wood. Though the block was from the middle of the trunk, the tree did not fall over, and the blocks above simply hung in the air. Picking the small cube up, I puzzled over it a minute before setting the cube of wood nearby. It expanded again, forming the original block of wood.   


Since hitting the tree didn't hurt my hand or give me splinters, I will have to get more wood to make a small shack out of. It will have to suffice until I can figure out how to cut these wooden blocks down into more usable supplies. I imagine if I had a pickaxe I could mine up some of these stones. I certainly can't break them as I can the wood- It took far longer, and the stone simply vanished instead of shrinking. I can, it seems, pick up dirt and sand the way I do wood, without a tool. There is a small river nearby, and the shore is made of sand blocks. I may be able to do something with them later, so I have put them in my backpack. I suppose I should keep track of my inventory at the moment.  


20 blocks of what looks to be oak wood, 4 blocks of dirt, 8 blocks of sand, 1 book, 1 pencil, 1 backpack  


That's not really much. I should see if I can figure out a way to use these for anything more than building a shelter, and probably grab some more wood. While I'm at it, I should figure out how to start a fire. I don't know how cold it will get here overnight, but I'll want to be warm.

\--------- 

I have been unable to figure out how to create a fire, but on the plus side, I have found some apples around where the trees I... Hit down? I didn't really cut them down I suppose. Either way, there were apples around where the trees had been. I'm thankful for finding those, as I was starting to get hungry. I've also spotted what look to be pigs and cows nearby. I'm hoping I can find something to use as a weapon, should I get desperate enough to have to hunt.   


I should really be trying to figure out a weapon, though. I'm not sure what those giant spiders will do if they spot me. I also don't know what other predators or enemies lurk out here- There could be wolves or bears or... Really, several things. I look to be in a forest, but with how strange this place is, anything could come at me. That makes it all the more important that I get a shelter built as soon as I can.

\--------- 

I took a break from collecting wood and setting up my shelter to take a look at what I've got. I've decided I will from now on call the blocks in the environment that are full size just that, blocks. The shrunken versions I will call cubes. As I was holding a cube of wood and trying to figure out how I could cut it down into more usable pieces, a small little image appeared next to my hand that had what looked like four cubes of crates or boxes, or maybe stacked wooden planks. When I took the four cubes, the cube of wood disappeared. This seems like a way to turn one object into another. I will experiment with everything I have, except for this book, and see what else I can do.

\--------- 

Just as I was about to give up finding something else I could do, I set two of the wooden plank cubes by each other and a floating image of sticks appears. That's a step forward! I created more planks to see if there's some other formation that will get me something else. There was one more: If I put four of them in a square of two cubes by two cubes, I saw a strange floating block. I took it and, out of curiosity, placed it in the world. It's an odd table with nine squares on it in a three squares by three squares square pattern. Putting two cubes on the table, in a vertical line, gets me the floating stick image above the table. I assume this table is to assist in creating objects. I wonder what else I can create using this table. I will spend only a small time testing it, however. I still need to finish my shelter before dark.

\--------- 

More progress! I managed to make what appears to be a chest. This took eight cubes of wooden planks placed in the outer squares of the table, leaving the center square empty. I'm beginning to wonder if I can combine two different items. This, however, will have to wait until tomorrow. I will finish my shelter and hide out for the night. Tomorrow, I will pack up my inventory of items and head out to try to find any other humans in this place. Hopefully, I can find someone to tell me how to get home.

\--------- 

It's almost dark, but I finished my small shelter. It's three blocks tall, four blocks wide, and three blocks deep. I couldn't figure out how to build a door, so once I'm inside, I'll just have to block myself in. I'm sitting outside to write at the moment as I have no flashlight to be able to write inside the building. I kinda wish I had a bed or a sleeping bag as well, but I'll just have to sleep on the floor for now. I see the sun going down and spiders emerging from the nearby cave. I will retreat inside and try to sleep. Quick end of the day inventory:  


1 book, 1 pencil, 1 backpack, 1 chest, 1 combining table, 2 cubes of wooden planks, 4 sticks, 5 cubes of oak wood, 4 cubes of dirt, 8 cubes of sand  


Hopefully tomorrow I can begin heading home.

\--------- 

I didn't sleep very long before I awoke to a very... Disturbing sound. There was a low moaning and growling just outside. It sounded like something out of a zombie movie. I also hear an odd rattling, and an odd hissing. I'm glad I didn't wait to take my chances with the night, but I fear what awaits me at dawn. I'm sure, just judging by the sheer amount of sounds, that there are a large number of creatures outside my little hut. I am sure they will be waiting when the sun comes up.  


I'm being a little crazy to write this- I broke a piece out of the ceiling to get some light in here. It doesn't look like any of the spiders that have climbed the building can get through the hole, so that's good. I tried hitting one with my backpack- It actually knocked the sucker off the roof. I was a bit surprised, but I guess that's better than nothi---  


A freaking arrow just hit the block above my head. I moved out from under the hole, but holy crap! A freaking arrow! Out of nowhere! I think someone or something out there wants me dead, and that is... Scary. I'll have to be super careful when I leave in the morning. And I'll have to leave- I can't risk starving either. I have to get home.  


There was just an explosion in the distance. This place is nuts. And the worst part: No one is going to believe any of this when I get home. They'll all think I lost my mind. No one's going to be able to explain to me what's going on. No one's going to understand what I'm going through here, what I will have been through. And by the end of this, I probably will be out of my mind. I'm not a survivalist, I'm just an average girl. I play on my computer, I watch TV, I go to work, I hang out with friends, but I do not do the outdoors and survival thing. And on top of that, I just heard my chest outside open- Yes, I made the mistake of leaving it, and all my stuff but the backpack and book, out there. I'm not a survivalist. I guess tomorrow I'll have to collect resources as I walk. I'll figure it out. I'm plugging up the hole and going to try to sleep. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a good day for me.  



	2. Day 2

I woke up this morning and broke a ceiling block to see if it was actually morning. It is, and I don't hear any enemies around, so I'll break camp and go. I hope whoever or whatever opened my chest last night didn't take everything... I'll check, and take inventory after I have.  
Well, I broke down my entire building before checking the chest. Not only is everything in there, but there's also a sword and a pickaxe! Whoever got in here last night left these for me, I guess- It looks like there's also a map in here. I'll follow it to the best of my abilities and hopefully get to safety sometime today. Quick inventory check before I take off:  
40 cubes of oak wood, 2 cubes of wooden planks, 1 combining table, 1 chest, 4 cubes of dirt, 8 cubes of sand, 4 sticks, 1 book, 1 pencil, 1 sword that looks to be made of iron or steel, 1 pickaxe that looks to be made of iron or steel, 1 map  
Not bad, I guess. I wish whoever it was had left some food. I'm starting to get hungry. At least I still see some animals in the distance. With this sword, I should be able to get some meat. The hard part will be getting a fire going to cook it, but I'll handle that when I get to it. For now, I better start walking.  
I've been walking for a while and following this map. I see what look like buildings in the distance, including one that appears to be a tall tower. I couldn't bring myself to kill one of those cows or pigs without a way to cook the meat- It'd likely go bad before I figured out a fire, anyway. I'm taking a short break to relax a minute before I get to the town ahead. I'm hoping I can  
______

The cut off in my last entry was due to my book being ripped out of my hands. Rather rude, but I have to say I appreciate it. I'm in the town now, sitting at the top of the tower I saw.  
So, what happened was this guy came up and grabbed my book. He called me an idiot and told me to move, grabbing my arm and pulling me from the tree I was sitting under, pulling a sword as he did. Naturally, I was terrified, but he didn't attack me. Instead he swung just to the side of the tree. I turned in time to see this strange green creature get hit and back off a little. It wasn't even bleeding. I couldn't understand it. As it got closer, it started making the hissing noise I had heard last night. The guy hit it again and again before it fell over and poofed, turning into what looked like a pile of gray sand.  
"Do you have a death wish, lady?" The guy asked me, moving to pick up the pile of sand. I was amazed to see it retaining its shape in his hand. "That creeper almost blew you sky high. And wandering around without any armor- I shouldn't have wasted my time leaving you some tools."  
"Wait, wait, hold on." I said quickly. "Creeper? What the hell is a creeper? You left those tools? Where the hell are we?" He frowned.  
"Oh, I get it. I really am the only one that's been here this whole time. Well, come on then. Let's go get you set up at the village." And just like that he turned and walked off on me. With my book. And not even checking to see if I was following. What a jerk.  
I ran off after him. I was so not waiting around for another... creeper to show up. He mentioned it blowing me up, so maybe that was the explosion I heard the night before. Maybe he ran into one on the way to drop those tools off. And those tools- I don't know why he would've helped if he didn't think I needed it. Especially with how nice this village looks. He didn't say if he built it or not, wouldn't answer any questions about it. The place looks deserted besides him, but he did say he was the only person here. Once he gets back from mining, as he said, he promised to sit and discuss what's going on here.  
I hope he doesn't think I'm going to do anything he says just cause he saved me. I'd hate to have to hit the guy. He is pretty cute. I guess while I have time I should describe him. He's about my age, I'd guess around 18 to 23. He has light blonde hair that's cut pretty short and light green eyes. He was wearing what he called iron armor, when I asked about it. He looks pretty rugged, but he told me on the way here that he'd been here a long while by himself. He also looked like he'd been working out...  
I hear him coming back. I intend to ask him plenty of questions, and I'll write down as much as I can afterwards. Or if he doesn't mind, I'll write it while we talk. I want to remember as much as I can.  
His name is Alexander. He said he's cool with me writing as we talk. He figures if it helps me remember the important parts, then that's good.  
I asked first about the village. Why it was deserted. He said there had been this worlds people here for a time, but slowly they were turned into zombies and he was forced to kill them.  
"Wait, zombies? As in braaaaaaaains?" I can't help it- It's so popular at home, it's like this is some kind of video game or something.  
"Those are some of the most common monsters you'll find here- Zombies, skeletons, spiders, and creepers." Alex seems so calm talking about these things. Giant freaking spiders, zombies that want to eat your brains, skeletons, and a green thing called a creeper that explodes. I don't see how he's not bothered by all this. "I know it sounds pretty scary, but once you know how to deal with each, you're cool. You may have noticed the door on this place is made of iron. Zombies can break wooden doors, but they can't break iron. Skeletons can't shoot through the glass of the windows, and the spiders can't fit down this entrance to get inside. Creepers will only blow up if they're close to you- They won't if you're watching them through glass. I've fortified the buildings of this village to keep these monsters from killing me. It's made life pretty easy."  
"So how did you come up with the name 'creeper' for the explody guys?"  
"I didn't." Alright, I didn't expect that one. He just got up and walked away, so... I guess question time is over. Well, I learned a lot! Geez- He's not very help- Oh, no, actually he's back already. "Here we go- I found this when I first got here. It describes several parts of the world and how they work, such as creepers, endermen, and even crafting." He brought a book with him, one that looks very similar to mine, just thicker.  
"Endermen? What are endermen?"  
"They're these tall creatures, I'd say about three blocks in height. They're solid black with purple eyes. Never look at one- It will attack you if it spots you looking at it. And don't think running inside will help. These guys can teleport."  
"So we're dead if we look at one of them."  
"To be fair, I have only spotted one. And thankfully, I think he was too far away to be able to see me, or at least to tell I was looking at him. I think they're rare. At least... Here. There is, according to that book, another dimension to this place where endermen live. Oh, and a dragon. There's apparently a dragon there, too." Okay, I don't know what to say to that one. A dragon. Thank God it's in a different dimension. "You cool? You got super pale, lady."  
I told him I'm fine. And gave him my name. I'll get sick of being called "lady" otherwise. I can't really think of anything else to ask... Oh!  
"Do you know how I can get home?" Alexander isn't answering. He knows something- I can tell by how tense he got.  
"You won't be getting home anytime soon, Jennifer. Sorry." Wait. Whoa. What? I won't be home anytime soon? I'm arguing that one out.  
"The only way to get back to our world is through the End- The dimension the endermen and the dragon are in. We have to kill the dragon to open the portal home. If I'm not ready to do it, you won't be able to."  
________

The rest of this is written a while later, because we had a lengthy... discussion about this. I'll write it the best I remember it here.  
"But I have to get home! My mom needs me, I help with my younger siblings and I help make money and... and... I have school and..."  
"Jennifer, calm down." He took to calling me by name super fast. "It's not bad here- And for all we know, time moves differently here compared with home. I've been here three years now, though, and I'm not ready to face that dragon. We will die if we try to fight that thing. We have to be ready."  
"Then we'll be ready! Soon! I can't stay here, Alexander! You can't tell me you don't want to go home." He just watched me for a minute.  
"I have it better here than I ever had it at home. If I wanted to, I could stay in this village forever and never go hungry, never have to work a day in my life. The only thing stopping me from that is I want to stay in shape." I felt pretty bad at that. It tells me either he didn't have any family, or his family didn't really give a crap about him.  
"What do we have to do to be ready? After we kill it, you can come back here, but... My family needs me. I have to get home." Alexander stayed quiet for a number of minutes, or at least what felt like it, before he nodded slightly.  
"You need to learn to use that sword I gave you. If you can't even kill a zombie, you won't kill the dragon. While you practice on that, I'll focus on getting us armor and some potions. Yes, there are potions in this world, and health potions will be your best friend. We'll only get one shot at this, so we'll have to make it count." I nodded. I was ready to do anything I had to to get out of this. This was going to be scary and hard, and there was a real risk we'd both die. "Now. You need to get some sleep- I'll make me an extra bed later. You can have mine for now, and I'll take the floor."  
"Alright... Thanks, Alex. Good night." With that, I headed back down to the first floor of the tower, where he'd set up a bed, and laid down. I'll try to sleep now that I've written all of this up.


	3. Day 3

Alexander woke me up early this morning for breakfast and to talk over how we intend to set all of this up. Breakfast was some bread and porkchops. It works, I guess. At least we've got food, and there's a well in town for water. Alexander also has a couple cows penned up to get milk from. So we're set up for food. I guess carrots, potatoes, and wheat are already growing in the various farms in the village, and they grow fast. That works for us. It means we should never run out of food. We'll always at least have bread.

Our talk this morning consisted of Alexander going over what kind of practice I'd have to do before he'd even come close to considering me ready to face the dragon. After that... Wonderful discussion, we started discussing getting to the dragon to begin with.

"So how do we get to this dimension in the first place? I mean, if we can't get there, we can't fight the dragon."

"Well, that'll be the hard part. According to the book, we'll need a number of what are called enderpearls. You can get them from endermen- Which I've only seen one of. But we'll need at least nine, probably more. We'll also need to go to another dimension called the nether to find some creatures called blazes. We'll need to kill them for another component we'll need."

"Let me guess- Blazes are also super dangerous." I am really starting to think I'll be stuck here forever.

"Yes, as are most of the other inhabitants of the nether. Luckily, we can make defenses for ourselves. Armor, weapons, potions- We just need to get a strategy and we'll be golden." Alexander seems a little more optimistic about this than he was yesterday. "Now- Getting to the nether is going to be another task that will take some time and preperation. For that, we are going to need, as near as my math can tell, we need 14 blocks of obsidian to construct the portal to get there. To get obsidian, we'll need a pickaxe made of diamonds. Diamonds... Are a pain to find. I've personally never found any."

"None? In three years?" That sounds kinda... Super hard to find.

"To be fair, I haven't been actively looking for them, and I try not to go out on mining expeditions for too long at a time. On top of that, I only go down there if I need something. I usually don't." Well, I guess that makes sense, then. Why would he want to go down there in the dark and risk getting himself hurt, or worse, if he doesn't need anything down there. "But I have a general idea of how to find them, at least. We'll probably be down for long periods at a time, so... Let's start planning things out. Figure out what we'll need for a trip, what to bring extra of, things like that." Alexander said, getting up. I agreed and we started planning.

It's been a few hours now, and I think we've about got this figured out. We've decided that we should pack extra food, extra iron to make more pickaxes should ours break on us- Apparently, they can break. I wouldn't have thought that was a thing, but apparently it's a thing. We also want to bring an extra furnace in case we run out of iron- This way we can refine some more to use should we need it. Other things on the list:

Several bunches of torches, to help light our way, as they apparently only give off light when on a wall; plenty of wood so we'll be able to use it for pickaxes, which have handles made of wood; buckets of water, to take care of any lava we see and keep us from accidentally falling in; two beds so if we get exhausted we can set up a small base camp and rest up; a crafting table each, so we can actually make the pickaxes.

Alexander helped me practice the sword after we had finished that. It isn't nearly as hard as I had thought- You don't need any fancy fencing to use these things, thankfully. The main thing he wanted me to practice was blocking, as that's the best way to keep from being hit by arrows from skeletons. Thankfully, the swords are kinda wide, so that should help. They really aren't heavy like you would expect, either- These are pretty light, and thin, but super solid and super sharp. I'm not complaining, of course. That just means that I can learn how to use this thing quickly and easily.

Currently, we think we'll be heading out tomorrow to start searching for diamonds. We don't really have a way to tell the time underground, so we're just going to assume we'll be down there for a couple days. That's why we've planned to take extra food and beds. Alexander mentioned finding a good, deep spot to set up an actual, defensible base camp and set up a furnace, a crafting table, and the beds there, along with plenty of light. Apparently, most of these mosters only appear in the dark, though they can travel in the light. There is an exception to that- Zombies and Skeletons die in direct sunlight, but not man-made light.

Alexander did warn me we'll have a chance of encountering several dangers underground that we haven't here. He mentioned lava, creatures he called slimes, and what are called cave spiders. Cave spiders are still giant spiders... They are just poisonous whereas the spiders we've been seeing aboveground here aren't. So poisonous giant spiders that we may or may not see coming... Yeah, I'm not excited for this.

It could mostly just be nerves, but I really don't want to go underground for potentially days on end. It could be the fact that I am a huge arachnophobe, or that I really don't like the thought that we could get trapped down there forever. But I think a large part of it is a dream I had last night. It was a short dream, but enough to creep me out. I haven't mentioned it to Alex yet.

I dreamt that I had woken in the middle of the night and decided to look outside. Everything looked pretty calm, like any normal night, except for a strange figure not too far from the window. He looked like a blocky human- Everything about him was a square or a rectangle. He had on a green shirt and blue pants, and he had brown hair. Nothing too freaky- Until he turned around. His eyes were pure white, no pupils or anything. He looked right at me, watched me for a few minutes, then turned and walked away.

I really hope it was just a dream, and I didn't really wake up and see that guy. It would make me a nervous wreck to know that something like that is running around here, and knows where we are. It might be the case that he's not our enemy- He could just be a native of this world and have found us and come to see if we meant any harm. It could be that he's just travelling, saw me, and decided my presence was none of his business. But the scary idea is that he could be a demon of some kind, and could be watching us waiting for a chance to strike. He could kill us here, and no one at home would ever know what happened to us.

I should stop writing about it- Alexander keeps looking over at me while I'm writing, and he looks a bit concerned. I might look scared- I'll just tell him it's the spider thing. I don't want to tell him about the dream. I'm sure it was just a dream- After all, he's been here three years. If there were any natives here, I'm sure he'd have run into at least one of them, right?

For now, I'll end my day's writing here, unless something else comes up before bed. If we're going to set out tomorrow, we need to make sure everything is packed up today. This is going to be a long, tiring adventure. I just hope we're both ready for it.

Alexander did ask what was bugging me while I was writing. He thankfully didn't ask for any explanation beyond my fear of spiders- Rather, he accepted that and promised me he would do his best to handle any spiders we come across so I wouldn't have to. That does make me feel considerably better. Maybe this trip won't be so bad after all.


	4. Day 4

I woke up early this morning to find it was raining. From my little temporary house, looking outside, I could see monsters everywhere. And yet, I feel so calm and peaceful this morning. Maybe this is some strange sort of calm before a storm scenario. It might just be that I’m finally starting to gain hope that we can make it out of here. After all, our plan for at least the first phase of this expedition is pretty solid to my untrained mind. Things seem to work differently in this world, but Alexander seems to have a good grasp on that. I’d hope so, after three years here. I’m just glad I met him. I’m not sure I could handle this alone, if I’d even made it past my second day.

I think it’ll be a bit before Alexander wakes up, so for now I intend to just… Think about things, maybe write in here if I come up with anything important.

I miss my family. My mom’s probably worried sick about me. Today would’ve been my youngest sister’s dance recital, and an hour after that would be my youngest brother’s soccer game. The twins would likely have asked me for help with math again, and my friends and I would take everyone out for pizza. Mom would insist we didn’t have to buy dinner, and we’d just brush it off.

Things are rough at home, but not in a bad way. Mom’s just struggling to feed five hungry kids. She told me I didn’t have to, but I got a babysitting job to help out, and I tutor on the weekends. It helps pay the bills, and I save gas money by riding my bike around. The twins plan to get a job once they hit 15 in two weeks, and that should help out even more. My two best friends, Amy and Becky, help out too by helping us buy groceries. They don’t have to, but their families are well off and don’t need the extra cash. It’d all go to clothes or shoes or such otherwise, so they figure it’s a better investment.

Becky’s birthday is tomorrow, November 5th. Amy’s isn’t until January. I’ll feel bad about missing Becky’s, but I’m sure she’ll just be glad I’m home. I hope I’m home in time for the twins’ on the 20th, but I know they’ll understand if I’m not.

I should describe my siblings since I’ve brought them up. Nikki and Ryan are 14, born on November 20th. Nikki is into softball, and Ryan is into anything mechanical. They both get good grades in school, and help each other where they need it. The only thing they both suck at is math, but I help them out with that. Mikey is 10, and loves sports. He likes soccer the most and is the best player on his team. They haven’t lost a match yet this year, and Mikey is super proud of that. Trisha is 8 and wants to be a ballerina when she grows up. She started dance classes two years ago and has stuck with them ever since. It’s made her hate being sick- Mom’s rule is if we are too sick for school, we’re too sick for any of our normal after school activities.

Alexander is awake now and wants me to help double check our supplies before we go. I will write when we stop for a break.

\------

We’ve been mining for what feels like a few hours now. According to the strange little clock Alexander apparently had this whole time and didn’t bother to tell me about, it’s not quite noon yet. So far we don’t have any diamonds, but Alexander isn’t sure we’re far enough down yet. We stopped for a break and to eat a bit. Our little rest area is just a small hole we dug into a wall and blocked back up. We lit up the area around it in this cave system first, to try to keep monsters away from us. I don’t remember if I wrote it before, and I don’t want to take the time to look cause we won’t be stopped long, but light deters most of the monsters. Zombies and Skeletons burn in sunlight, and artificial light like what comes from our torches keeps new monsters from popping up.

About these torches- They’re super weird but super useful. They don’t require fuel of any kind, and they never stop burning! Alexander said he hasn’t had to replace a single torch in the three years he’s been here. We can make four torches using just a stick and a piece of coal, so they’re super duper easy to make too! Plus, since we brought extra wood, we can make more if we need to. We keep finding pockets of coal while we’re walking. Which is great, because we can also use that to power the furnaces we brought if we need to use them.

Alexander says we’ll need to be careful when we get a bit further down- Apparently, at the depth we’re heading to, he’s seen a lot of lava pools. He said they’re actually not hot to stand around, but he can tell from monsters that have fallen in that the lava is still dangerous. It’s so weird that it doesn’t hurt us to stand near, though. He said we can even safely carry it in buckets! Like, metal buckets! I didn’t do the best in science, but even I know metal is supposed to heat up when exposed to, well, heat.

I’m going to eat something before we keep moving. I’ll write again at our next stop.

\-----

It’s sometime after noon now, and we’re a lot deeper in. We passed several of those lava pits, and Alexander wasn’t lying at all! It wasn’t any hotter standing next to the lava pit than it has been. I could hardly believe it! We did have to watch out for little embers that would occasionally pop out of the lava, but those were easy enough to avoid.

We spotted our first enderman while we were down here. It spotted us too, and it really did not like us looking at it. It teleported right at us and attacked, but Alexander fought it off bravely! It was amazing to watch, like something right out of a movie! Well, a weird, blocky movie anyway. Unfortunately, we didn’t get one of those pearl thingies that Alexander says we need, but he did manage to kill it. We’ve also had to deal with several spiders, a number of skeletons, and a huge wave of zombies.

Alexander said we stumbled on what his book called a “spawner” and that’s why there were so many zombies. We surrounded it with torches, because that’s supposed to deactivate it, and looked in this chest that was nearby. There was some really weird shaped armor, an old-style vinyl record, and some bread. We took the bread and left the rest- Alexander told me the armor looks like horse armor. We don’t need it.

Thankfully, we haven’t run into any creepers here. I think it might be harder to deal with them in close quarters like this. Their explosions could be useful for mining large chunks out of walls, but at the same time it’d be difficult for us to avoid getting hurt from that. We’re going to get moving again here in a minute. Here’s hoping we find the diamonds we need soon!

\------

We found a spot to stop for the night. No diamonds, but a lot of what Alexander called redstone. We also found a little bit of gold, but it’s not very useful to us at the moment. There are these cute little bats down in the caves, and I don’t think I’ve mentioned them yet. They seem completely harmless, and they are just so adorable!

Don’t get me wrong- I wouldn’t go anywhere near a bat back home. But these bats are so different and cute! And stupid. Very, very stupid. I’ve counted ten now that have flown straight into a lavafall. (Is that even a word? It’s like a waterfall, but made of lava.) I counted another three that flew into corners and just seemed to get stuck there. Wouldn’t turn around, wouldn’t hang on the ceiling there, nothing. So weird.

We’re staying down in the caves for the night. I wasn’t too keen on that idea at first, but it’s better not to waste our time trying to go back up just to have to spend pretty much an equal amount of time coming back down here. We’ll have to continue our hunt for diamonds tomorrow, and hope we find some. Maybe if we’re lucky, we’ll run into more endermen too. If we can knock the diamonds and the ender pearl things out in one go, all the better for us!

I just hope we can round up everything we need soon. I want to go home. I miss my family and my friends. I just hope my they’re not all too worried about me.

I hope we can get through this alive.


End file.
